Holly

Private investigator Holly Gibney attends a funeral for her mother, Charlotte, who recently died of COVID-19. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the service is held virtually over Zoom. Holly reflects on her complicated relationship with her mother. Charlotte was a staunch Donald Trump supporter, refusing to wear a mask or receive a COVID-19 vaccine. After attending an anti-mask rally, Charlotte contracted the Delta variant. Her condition deteriorated rapidly, and two weeks later she died in the hospital. Holly hates former President Trump and was greatly relieved when Joe Biden won the 2020 US presidential election. Holly has obsessive-compulsive disorder and takes great precautions to avoid contracting coronavirus, including masking and wearing gloves.

Returning home, Holly lets herself cry. Despite their difficult relationship, she misses her mother. Checking her work phone for Finders Keepers, the private investigative agency where she works, she finds four voicemails left by Penelope “Penny” Dahl. Penny’s daughter, Bonnie, works as a librarian at Bell College. Three weeks ago, Bonnie went missing during her bike commute home from work. She was last seen at a Jet Mart convenience store on Red Bank Avenue, near Deerfield Park.

Holly calls Pete Huntley, her partner at Finders Keepers. Despite being vaccinated, Pete has contracted COVID-19, and his ongoing illness worries Holly. Pete tells her what he knows about the case: Bonnie and Penny had a contentious relationship. Police found a note taped to Bonnie’s bike, which read, “I’ve had enough” (26), leading them to speculate that she either ran away or died by suicide. Holly calls Penny Dahl back and arranges a meeting the following day.

A young man named Cary Dressler sits on a rocky outcrop overlooking Red Bank Avenue and the parking lot of an abandoned Quick-Pik convenience store. He notices Rodney struggling to load a wheelchair-bound Emily into his van. Cary can hear their anxious conversation; later, it will occur to him that they were deliberately projecting their voices. When Cary offers to help, Rodney seizes the opportunity to drug him.

Holly arrives at Finders Keepers for her meeting with Penny Dahl. Penny’s car is parked out front, papered with photos showing Bonnie, an attractive 24-year-old woman. Up in Holly’s office, Penny runs her through the timeline of Bonnie’s disappearance.

Bonnie worked the closing shift at the Bell College library with three coworkers, including her best friend Lakeisha “Keisha” Stone, then rode her bike to the Jet Mart convenience store. Penny turns over security footage from the Jet Mart on the night of Bonnie’s disappearance. On the tape, time-stamped 8:04pm, Bonnie bought a drink and a snack. She had a brief, friendly conversation with the cashier, mounted her bike, and pedaled away. The following day, Penny called Bonnie repeatedly but received no response. At 6 PM, a man named Marvin Brown dropped off Bonnie’s bike at the library. Bonnie’s helmet was not found.

The case is currently being handled by police detective Izzy Jaynes. Penny is dissatisfied with the police investigation, believing that they were too quick to classify Bonnie as a runaway. She insists that Bonnie was not suicidal and had no reason to run away. She had just broken up with her ex-boyfriend, Tom Higgins, but Bonnie had initiated the breakup and didn’t miss him.

Penny describes an argument she had with her daughter several nights before Bonnie’s disappearance. They had disagreed about Bonnie’s career, with Penny urging her to pursue a “real” job instead of working at the library. In her frustration, Penny called her daughter a bitch, causing Bonnie to storm out. Holly suspects Penny is downplaying the frequency of their arguments, but thanks her and sees her out.

Emily Harris loathes her latest victim, Ellen Craslow. She hates Ellen even more than Cary Dressler and Jorge Castro. Ellen, who is vegan, calmly refuses to eat the liver. She tells Emily to bring her a salad, causing Emily to call her racist and sexist slurs in a diary entry. Emily withholds water to compel Ellen to eat, but a day passes with no change. Frustrated, Rodney wonders why Ellen won’t scream like the others did. He refuses to give her the salad she’s requested because liver is a necessary part of the ritual the Harrises are conducting. Ellen points to the woodchipper in his workshop, stating that she knows the Harrises will dispose of her body by running her through it and dumping her remains into the lake. Rodney worries that it was a mistake to abduct her.

After two days pass with Ellen refusing to eat the liver, Rodney brings her a salad. As she picks up the bowl, he takes out a .38 revolver and kills her.

Holly calls Izzy to discuss the case. Izzy believes Bonnie was abducted, possibly raped and murdered, and her body disposed of. Izzy has involved the state police and notified the Cincinnati FBI Special-Agent-in-Charge, or SAC, who won’t investigate because they have their hands full with COVID-19 and a recent police brutality case. A young Black man named Maleek Dutton was shot during a traffic stop when he reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone. The officer who killed him was cleared of all charges, inciting trouble in Lowtown, the city’s predominantly Black neighborhood. Izzy thanks Holly for taking the Penny Dahl case off her hands.

Holly drives up Red Bank avenue to the auto repair shop where Bonnie’s bike was found. She circles the building, combing the thickets for evidence. Deep inside a bush, she finds a gold clip-on earring, which she identifies as belonging to Bonnie.

Spotting a group of boys skateboarding at the nearby Dairy Whip, Holly calls fellow investigator Jerome Robinson to assist with an interview. Holly is uncomfortable talking to the boys alone because of her history of being bullied in high school. Her main tormentor, a boy named Mike, assigned her the nickname “Jibba-Jibba” for the way she stumbled over her words while talking.

Jerome meets Holly at the Dairy Whip, where the boys insist that they haven’t seen Bonnie since last Spring. One of them mentions a friend nicknamed “Stinky,” who has also been missing for a while. The police won’t help Stinky’s distraught mother because she has alcohol use disorder.

Peter Steinman, known to his friends as Stinky, heads to the Dairy Whip to meet Richie Glenman and Tommy Edison. By the time he arrives, the two are ready to leave. Peter turns around to head home but is interrupted by Rodney Harris. Rodney offers him 10 dollars to help push Emily’s wheelchair into their van, but Peter says he’ll do it for free. As he turns to push the chair, he notices Rodney reaching into his jacket pocket.